"I put it first in the neck of my dress--" she faltered. "Then,
when I found you were watching me, I hid it somewhere else."
Her eyes fell on the Doctor. She saw his hand steal out toward the
knob of the door. Was he going to run away on some pretext before
she could finish her story? She gave a sigh of relief when Billy,
re-entering with the key to the front door, blocked any such attempt
at escape.
Mechanically she watched Billy cross to the table, lay the key upon
it, and return to the hall without so much as a glance at the tense,
suspicious circle of faces focused upon herself and her lover.
"I put it--somewhere else," she repeated, her eyes going back to
the Doctor.
"Did you give it to Bailey?"
"No--I hid it--and then I told where it was--to the Doctor--"
Dale swayed on her feet. All turned surprisedly toward the Doctor.
Miss Cornelia rose from her chair.
The Doctor bore the battery of eyes unflinchingly. "That's rather
inaccurate," he said, with a tight little smile. "You told me where
you had placed it, but when I went to look for it, it was gone."
"Are you quite sure of that?" queried Miss Cornelia acidly.
"Absolutely," he said. He ignored the rest of the party, addressing
himself directly to Anderson.
"She said she had hidden it inside one of the rolls that were on
the tray on that table," he continued in tones of easy explanation,
approaching the table as he did so, and tapping it with the box of
sleeping-powders he had brought for Miss Cornelia.
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